Dark CMF

Awesome stuff, Soren! I long for the day that I can say "I expect my armor kit to arrive in a few weeks." As opposed to "I expect my armor kit to arrive next year." LoL Looking forward to your progress, and congrats on the airbrush kit! I received my undergarment pants today, so I have a full undergarment now!

2 minutes each, with no less than 10 minutes, but no more than 20 minutes in between the three events. Sequence goes like this: Push-ups for 2 minutes. 10 minute break. Sit-ups for 2 minutes. 10 minute break. Run 2 miles.

As a newbie, currently on a wait list for my armor until next spring sometime, all I'm going to say here is that you really, really should read more on the forums. Reading is fundamental, even in galaxies far, far away.

Ben... First, congrats on the weight loss. Progress is key to getting to the goal, for sure. Second... The APFT is 2 minutes for the pushups and situps. Probably much easier than doing it in 1! Third... Challenges are a great way to stay motivated - especially when you've got others involved! Keep at it!

I have to say that Glen pretty much stole my answer. LoL. The moment that I saw the TKs pouring through the smoke on the Tantive IV back in 1977 at the age of 4 or 5, my life changed. My armor has not been fabricated yet, and I've been talking hero build the whole time, because to me that was what the TKs were really SUPPOSED to look like, they were the "ready for close-up" versions of the armor. The thought that it could be a rebel in the armor had occurred to me already, but the point that the first ones you saw were stunts does make me take a second to reconsider hero vs stunt. There are other hero armors visible in ANH... I've been looking a lot lately. LoL. There is a stunt in ANH that doesn't even have tube stripes on his helmet, and he is a pretty critical TK stunt - he stuns Princess Leia after the TK that sees her and tells everyone to set for stun gets taken out. I'll have to go and look at the stunt CRL. I've never read it. From the moment I decided that I had to become a TK, I've been leaning towards the hero build because it was the "idealised" version. Food for thought though.

Kevin, He is a member here at FISD, so you can send him a Private Message to contact him.

Probably a good idea, Brent. Although I'm in shape normally, there was a time (in 2007) while I was assigned as a recruiter that I gained a bunch of weight and had to drop about 50 lbs to get to where I needed to be, and I concur that a change in your regimen is probably a good idea to bust through that last five to ten pounds. Keep at it, I'm sure that you'll get there!

Hey everyone. I've just gotten involved in the forums here at FISD within the last month or two (as a poster at least - I've been lurking intermittently for awhile now) and am on a wait list for armor finally. None of that is why I've stopped in though, I've started branching out from "What do I do to join" threads and into the other areas of the forums, and found the thread here. First thing I have to say is that this is an awesome idea, and I'm happy for all of you who have made progress and continue to do so, as well as those of you that have decided to get underway. I'm in the US Army, so I stay in shape for the most part, but I see a lot of you doing some great things, and I thought that for those of you who are using exercise as part of your fitness plan I could share a few internet based tools to hopefully help some of you out. I'm not a trooper (yet) but I still want to help troopers where I can! This first link is to a tool that can be used in conjunction with our Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT), which consists of 2 minutes each of push-ups and sit-ups, and a 2 mile run. There is a mobile version available, too. You can use it to score yourself on an Army APFT, measure your body fat by inputing some measurements, age and gender, things like that. http://550cord.com/products/info.asp?ProductID=7&product=Army-Fitness-Calculator This second link is to a page with a lot of useful fitness information links. http://www.military.com/military-fitness/army-fitness-requirements/weight-control-program Not sure if anyone will be interested in this or not, but perhaps someone will be able to use some of the information to reach their goals. If so, then it was worth the time that I took to post it. Best wishes to all of you in reaching your goals. I offer this in the spirit of Troopers (or maybe prospective ones) helping troopers!!

Chad, You've got it man. I've picked up my undergarment top. My pants are on order from Eastbay but haven't shipped yet. I actually ordered a rotary tool kit which has been shipped already. I'm anticipating ordering my boots in another two weeks or so when TKboots expects to have another limited production run. I've build an excel spreadsheet to track my spending on EVERYTHING that I spend on this TK build... Just for scary historical records. LoL. I'm expecting to move from boots to belt and a blaster build before the holidays are here and probably get some gloves, a holster, and maybe make a neck seal along the way, too. I'm sure I'll get myself a progress thread or something like that going somewhere along the way. I'm looking forward to doing this. Are you going ANH, ESB, ROTJ, Stunt or Hero? Rob is truly awesome so far. I'm sure that when I get the email from him that I'm up in the queue, we'll get more in depth with what I'll want him to do with the armor, as I am going ANH Hero with my build. I'll be sure to share anything that I figure out along the way with you, and I'll keep an eye on stuff that you've got to share as well. Seems like you're probably just a bit behind me in the wait list, so we'll more than likely be able to be internet build-buddies or something like that. Congrats on getting on the list. I know exactly how you feel about everything right now. I'm with you. I've never done anything like this before either. One day, hopefully not terribly far from now, we'll be 501st/FISD TKs and together, we'll crush the rebellion - and put some smiles on people's faces along the way!

Looks like you're getting all of your accessories completed, Soren! Great work thus far. Boots look really good - of course, that is to my own untrained (fully, as of yet) eye. How long do you estimate it will be before you receive your armor kit?

CFO is a specific maker within these parts, but if you were to live dangerously (and in ill-advised fashion) and search on the bay of E, you would quickly discover that there, it be a very generic term. Welcome aboard, folks!

Nice! I've been considering a similar solution. Also, for when my helmet eventually arrives. LoL

Bravo Adam! I'll definitely keep this in mind when my armor arrives. I've got a huge "plan" for the interior of my helmet, but this will certainly be a great startup while I research, and learn the skills required for what I want to do! Thanks for sharing.

How far out do you expect to be on your armor build?

Truly a great looking bucket there, Sam. As my armor will become a Hero build when it arrives, I'll be looking at yours for references. I'll have to figure out where to get the lenses, and as I'm unsure if your ears came with three bumps or not, I'll ask the question: Did they come with three bumps, or did you do a fill and re-shape of some sort? Looks great. Can't wait to get my box in the mail sometime next year. (ahhhhh, the agony. )

Spot on, Soren. The Doopydoos will probably be December, as I've exhausted my monthly "allowance" for September with the purchases yesterday. October will probably be the boots and the remaining bit of my preorder for my Xbox One games. November though... Doopydoos, maybe neck seal and/or hand guards. Then January will be when I start to purchase the items necessary to build the armor, in anticipation of the brown box arrival. In the meantime, I'll be reading and re-reading all of the E-11 build threads - starting with yours again.

Well I'll be a wookie's uncle. It is EXACTLY the same one. Awesome stuff, Daniel!! I'm glad I stopped by before I went to order it. Thanks a million. They have a 25% off any one item Labor Day sale going on this weekend, too. After Tax, discount and shipping, the total was barely more than $15, and the order has been placed.

Just a quick follow up here... I was at Academy Sports this afternoon (as I said I might be) and I did pick up the BCG compression shirt. It was about $18.50 (after taxes). Fits nicely although I'd advise investigating a size up from what you normally wear. I'm not sure if it is the same with other compression gear or not, but I normally wear a L/XL in shirts and bought a XXL BCG compression top. I had no luck finding a pair of pants anywhere in the store, men's, women's whatever, that was black. So, upon returning home, I ordered a pair from Eastbay. About $28.00 after shipping. So there we go. I've purchased the first pieces of my eventual TK build. I'm officially on the path to the Dark side... Now, I continue my waiting game for the brown box to arrive sometime in 2014. Next though: E-11 Blaster. Thanks for the share Brenton, greatly appreciated!

I greatly appreciate the feedback. I've put it in my cart for the time being and after some further investigation at Trooperbay (making the picture larger two times) I can read on the side of the tool, even though it is upside down, what looks like "RPM 8000 - 18000." I figured it would be alright, but with no experience at this (yet) I was unsure how much power is appropriate/sufficient/not enough for working with armor grade ABS or Doopy Doos kits. Thanks again, everyone. Perhaps sometime in November/December, I'll have an E-11 blaster build going and can share some pictures of my progress!

I did a search and couldn't find a thread that specifically addressed this, and I'm not sure where else to ask about it, so I'm trying it here. Has anyone used the rotary tool kit available from Trooperbay? I cannot determine a brand, and quite frankly I'm not to worried about it if I can find some of you that will vouch for it. I'm of the mindset that if it is on Trooperbay, it is probably perfectly worth the money spent on it, but I'd like to know if it is a better idea to spend more on another brand. I've never built armor before - I'm on a waiting list til 2014 sometime - so I'm looking to do a Doopydoos Pipe build of my E-11 while I'm waiting. If anyone can give me a solid thumbs-up for the rotary tool, I'll go ahead and order it so I can order the Doopy kit in my next batch of armor/accessory purchases. Thanks in advance for any help that anyone can provide, even if it is in the form of another thread that has addressed this already, like I said, I did do a couple of searches before posting. Thanks again!

While I can't help you with your last question - or any that I know of, really - I want to say that I'll be keeping an eye on your build thread. It does look amazing so far. I'm on Rob's wait list and just beginning to assemble my cool collection of "things" that will be necessary to complete the armor (tools, undergarments, boots, etc...). I'll be waiting until 2014 sometime for my brown box. Sending you a PM, btw... Have a few questions, but they are probably more appropriate for a PM, as opposed to your build thread! Thanks for sharing though. I'm enthralled with all of the builds to look at!

Good call Dennis - it will be worn and washed regularly before I receive my Armor! Thanks for the heads up. Brenton, I am actually on the wait list for RT-Mod which I decided on after a lot of research here in the FISD forums. For the time being, I'd say that it is comparably priced to the AP that you're talking about. High-gloss ABS, comes trimmed. At 6'2" and 217 lbs with some serious wingspan, I was concerned about finding a kit that would accomodate longer limbs and moderately broad chest/shoulders. Obviously at this time I can only talk about what led to the decision to go with RT-Mod, and the accessory purchases that I make along the way. Once I've got the armor kit in hand and begin my (seriously anticipated) build thread, I'll have some more real insight. Back on topic - so to speak - As Dennis mentioned the color fade issue, does anyone have any other horror stories with undergarments? I'm typing this and thinking "There's probably a thread about this somewhere..." but I'm wondering about fading, bleeding, shrinking, things of that nature. I guess I'll go and search the forums! LoL

Chad, I'm by no means a professional. I'm a noobie just like you are. Personally, I am on the RT-Mod wait list until 2014. Not sure how much research you've done in the rest of the forums here, but I get the feeling that it is worth the wait. I'm about the exact same size that you are, 6'2", 217 but I have the Army to thank for the even distribution Have you made a decision on your armor kit yet? I'm not in Texas, but it would be cool to be able to "share" a timeline towards detachment and 501st membership, and tips/tricks that we learn along the way. I am going to be ordering my boots during the next month some time and might pick up my undergarments this weekend. Aside from that I may take on an E-11 pipe kit build to help pass the time.

Awesome stuff, Brenton! Thanks for the share. I've honestly just begun to assemble the list of accessories that I need to purchase for my armor, the undergarment being one of them, as I'm on a wait list for armor that will last until next year sometime. In the meantime though, I've got boots (4 week wait) and undergarments at the top of my list and my wife wants to go to Dicks and Academy Sports this weekend to look for an elliptical. I believe that I may be making a purchase as well now. LoL Thanks again!